The town did some slicing and dicing last week, reducing the tax levy increase by half to 4.4 percent on an $11.2 million budget proposal, and offering more possible cuts that would get it under the two percent tax cap. Supervisor Kelly Myers put $394,000 in cuts on the table last week. Of those cuts, the board would need to select $225,000 to get the tax increase under two percent. Implementing all the cuts would bring the tax levy increase to around zero percent. The biggest cut on the table is closing the town’s transfer station, which has been losing...

The nation’s 44,000 newly unionized airport screeners have ratified their first-ever collective bargaining agreement, giving them more say in what they wear on the job, the shifts they work and the time off they take, whether they can change from part-time to full-time work or back, their union announced today. The American Federation of Government Employees union, which won the right to represent the screeners in an election last year, said its members voted 17,326 to 1,774 in favor of ratifying the first labor deal struck with the Transportation Security Administration since the agency was founded 10 years ago in...

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says the premise that cutting taxes will result in greater economic growth is “a Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale”. At the Nov. 8th Christian Science Monitor Breakfast in Washington, Schumer praised House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on the tone of his recent remarks about working with the president on debt reduction...

Some officials are calling for the U.S. military to take over the managerial structure of the Long Island Power Authority until power is restored on Long Island, where more than a quarter million homes and businesses are still in the dark after Sandy and a snowstorm. Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and U.S. Rep. Peter King will ask the federal government for help, a spokesman for King tells NBC 4 New York. ... LIPA was warned as long ago as 2006 that it was not prepared to handle a major storm, that it badly needed to replace outdated technology and...

Staten Island resident William Boden interviewed by phone. Staten Island has been abandoned. No electricity, no gas, no heat. People without shelter, clothing, food, water. Staten Island is gone and will never come back. Obama and Bloomberg lied to us. Red Cross absent. Promised FEMA aid absent. No aid of any kind. People lost all personal possessions in flooded, wrecked houses.

For those in the New York area suffering not only from the devastating storms but also from gas lines that have lasted longer than a work shift, some relief is on the way Friday. Leaders announced gas rationing in parts of New York and New Jersey in an effort to address the gas shortage brought on by the one-two punch of Superstorm Sandy and this week's nor'easter. "Drivers are still facing long lines, frustrations are only growing and it now appears that there will be shortages for possibly another couple of weeks," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters Thursday...

PLATTSBURGH — CVPH Medical Center has handed pink slips to 17 employees. The layoffs — nine in management and eight hourly staffers — are part of an effort to “help bolster the hospital’s financial position in 2013 and beyond,” the hospital said in a statement. “We received direction from our Board of Directors to move forward in an in-depth and thoughtful fashion” to determine which positions would be cut, CVPH President Stephens Mundy said in an interview. “We made sure that we looked throughout the organization in making our decision.” The management cuts included a top-level administrator, though Mundy would...

From the mayor who made owning an 18oz+ container of coke a summary offense, comes this: Effective 6 am 11/9: drivers in NYC whose license plates end in an even number or zero will be able to buy gas only on even-numbered days— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) November 8, 2012 Drivers in NYC whose license plates end with a letter will be classified as “odd” and may only buy gas on odd-numbered days— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) November 8, 2012 In case anyone gets any ideas, the NYPD will be there to enforce counting skills: NYPD officers will be deployed at...

Just as utility companies in the Northeast fixed power lines and some residents regained heat and electricity, another powerful storm rocked the New York area on Wednesday, sparking fears that the region could again plunge into darkness and freezing temperatures. Yahoo! News invited residents to share their short anecdotes and photos from the nor'easter. Here are some excerpts.

Damage in New York state from Superstorm Sandy could total $33 billion when all is said and done, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday as the state began cleaning up from a nor'easter that dumped snow, brought down power lines and left hundreds of thousands of new customers in darkness. A damage forecasting firm had previously estimated that Sandy might have caused $30 billion to $50 billion in economic losses from the Carolinas to Maine, including property damage, lost business and extra living expenses. Cuomo's estimate will likely push the bill even higher. A damage estimate of even $50 billion total...

Volunteers and disaster victims have taken rescue, recovery and security into their own hands on New York's storm-ravaged borough of Staten Island, where they say FEMA has forgotten them. Already without power for more than a week in the wake of superstorm Sandy, hard-hit residents of the borough's South Shore braved a nor'easter Wednesday night, many -- perhaps hundreds -- huddling in condemned homes and ignoring orders to evacuate out of fear looters would take what little Mother Nature has left them. "FEMA packed up everything yesterday and left the area," said MaryLou Wong, whose home in the Midland Beach...

Nassau and Suffolk counties announced Thursday that they are imposing "odd-even" gasoline rationing to ease congestion and frustration at filling stations. The counties will join with New York City to impose the new system beginning at 5 a.m. Friday, in the wake of a shortage that began after superstorm Sandy hit the region. Under the system, drivers with license plates ending in an even number will be able to purchase fuel only on even-numbered days and drivers with license plate numbers that end in an odd number will be able to purchase fuel only on odd-numbered days. License plates such...

A winter storm battered the Northeast coast Thursday after cutting power to at least 115,000 homes and dumping record snowfalls in the New York City area. The National Weather Service warned of wind gusts as high as 60 mph along the coast, “minor to moderate” flooding from storm surges, and more snow, particularly in New England, early Thursday. More than 600,000 people were without electricity as a result of superstorm Sandy and the new storm. NBCNewYork.com reported that more than 198,000 Long Island Power Authority customers, 55,000 Con Edison customers in New York City and Westchester County, 197,560 Jersey Central...

Can’t make this stuff up. People in the New York and New Jersey area devastated by Hurricane Sandy are without homes, or have homes but no electricity while sleet and snow is pounding the area. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) disaster “recovery” centers are closed in some areas of New York City and New Jersey. New Jersey FEMA says they will reopen tomorrow (Thursday). Staten Island says buses serving as warming centers have disappeared.

Two upstate appellate judges and a Long Island justice who sits on the appellate court in Manhattan were defeated on Nov. 6 in their reelection bids for Supreme Court, according to unofficial returns. Justices Bernard Malone Jr. and E. Michael Kavanagh, both Republicans who sit in the Appellate Division, Third Department in Albany, were beaten by Democrats Richard Mott and Stephan Schick. And Justice James Catterson of Suffolk County came in eighth among 12 candidates vying for six seats in the Tenth Judicial District. Catterson sits on the First Department bench.... Throughout the state, judicial election voting appeared to be heavily influenced...

A nor'easter blustered into New York and Jersey on Wednesday, threatening to swamp homes all over again, plunge neighborhoods back into darkness and inflict more misery on tens of thousands of people still reeling from Superstorm Sandy. Under ordinary circumstances, a storm of this sort wouldn't be a big deal, but large swaths of the landscape were still an open wound, with many of Sandy's victims still mucking out their homes and cars. Thousands of people in low-lying neighborhoods staggered by the superstorm just over a week ago were warned to clear out, with authorities saying rain, wet snow and...

A FEMA disaster recovery center in a Hurricane Sandy-ravaged corner of Staten Island that was supposed to provide shelter, food and assistance to hurricane victims Wednesday morning went MIA, posting a sign saying that they were closed due to the approaching nor’easter. A printed paper sign taped to the front door of on the center at 6581 Hylan Blvd. at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday read “FEMA Center Closed Due to Weather.” The front doors of the disaster recovery center, which is housed inside the Mount Lorretto Catholic Youth Organization, were unlocked, but there was no staff anywhere in sight for at...

Rep. Kathy Hochul (N.Y.), a Democrat swept into office last year largely because of her support for Medicare, was defeated in her push for a full term on Tuesday. Chris Collins, a former Erie County executive, was leading Hochul 51 percent to 49 percent, CNN reported, with 97 percent of precincts reporting.

(AP) - Government leaders are turning their attention to the next crisis unfolding in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy: finding housing for potentially tens of thousands of people left homeless. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has already dispensed close to $200 million in emergency housing assistance and has put 34,000 people in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area up in hotels and motels. But local, state and federal officials have yet to lay out a specific, comprehensive plan for finding them long-term places to live, even as cold weather sets in. And given the scarcity and...

When New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg refused Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's urgent plea to bring in the National Guard to help relief efforts and prevent looting following Hurricane Sandy, the mayor told reporters: "We don't need it. The NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns." Bloomberg's reaction was irrational, given that thousands of National Guard troops had already rescued more than 3,000 people and 200 pets from floodwaters in neighboring New Jersey. But his was an all too typical knee-jerk reaction. The same anti-gun mentality was on display at the 4th Circuit Court of...

New York Senate candidate Wendy Long said a poll worker "studied" her ballot and told her to check boxes for Democrats. (AP)********************************************************** Not even a Senate candidate is immune from strange goings on at the polling sites. Wendy Long, the Republican candidate for Senate in New York, said she went to cast her vote Tuesday morning and got the runaround from a poll worker. Voting in the very blue New York borough of Manhattan, where voters fill out paper ballots, slip them into a “privacy sleeve” and then insert them into a scanner, Long said she had hers ripped away...

Being prepared for disaster is a way of life for many American preppers, but there are also many people throughout the Nation completely unprepared for the unthinkable. Those who are unprepared become easy targets for victimization. Since Superstorm Sandy struck New York, there have been hundreds of reports of price gouging in the area as frantic city-dwellers rush about in search of basic supplies. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Monday that he was in the process of investigating more than 400 possible cases of price gouging as prices on things like gasoline, food, bottled water, generators, batteries...

Heard from family members in Astoria, NY. They're seeing a HUGE turnout at the polls. Wait times of 45 minutes to 1.5 hrs or more in line. These are the biggest lines they've EVER seen when voting (over 30 year span)! This is the kind of passion and enthusiasm we've seen from Romney voters, not the Obama "fear and revenge" crew. It looks like New York may be in play after all. Keep praying America, keep praying!

Stocks climbed on Tuesday as some investors bet that Republican Mitt Romney could pull off a surprise victory in the presidential vote, citing gains in defense and energy shares. Gains were fairly broad-based, but among S&P 500 sectors, energy led the market along with materials and industrial shares, all sectors that rise with the economy. Defense shares like United Technologies shot higher, raising some market speculation that Romney,, who has called for increased military spending, could be moving ahead of Democratic President Barack Obama in the vote.

Voted at 9:45 am-Longest lines I've ever seen at this polling place (probably because I normally vote at 6-7am) Election district has large population of Hispanics but something new I've noticed this time-I'm seeing a large amount of Eastern European and Irish voters-all no doubt new citizens to this area. Eastern Euros are mostly Russian and Polish. I would guess about a quarter of voters are older white voters (mostly home-owners who for whatever reason have decided to stay here-and who, for the record seem to be largely Romney voters)

New York state on Wednesday asked the U.S. federal government to pay all the costs of cleaning up and repairing damage from massive storm Sandy that tore through the Northeast this week and crippled New York City. Governor Andrew Cuomo said he is asking fellow Democrat, President Barack Obama, to pay 100 percent of the estimated $6 billion bill, at a time that state and local government budgets remain constrained by a weak economic recovery. … New York top finance official, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, said Washington should foot the bill, because of lingering financial pressures on state and local governments...

Hurricane-relief Guardsmen tossed out of armory - for Victoria's Secret show The Victoria’s Secret show must go on — even if it means kicking out hardworking men and women in uniform. Dozens of National Guardsmen, and Army and Air Force personnel who have been sleeping at Manhattan’s Lexington Armory in between hurricane-relief shifts are being booted — to make room for Victoria’s Secret models in anticipation of Wednesday’s runway show. About 300 uniformed personnel have been bunking down at the armory at various times since Sandy hit. But their numbers will be reduced to 60 by Wednesday for the event,...

Mayor Bloomberg’s Response to Sandy Leaves Many New Yorkers Out in the Cold The mayor has brilliantly stage-managed his handling of the storm, but outside the city’s affluent precincts numerous angry residents feel abandoned by his administration as days have passed and help has remained distant, writes Harry Siegel. “Are you from OEM? Or FEMA?” “No, we’re from Brooklyn.” That was the exchange when, after nearly six hours, the volunteer group I spent Sunday with finally managed to deliver supplies— flashlights, blankets, winter jackets, baby supplies, and pet food—to Staten Islanders who’d been rocked by Hurricane Sandy. On television, New...

Elliott Carter, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer who fused European and American modernist traditions in seminal but formidable works, and who lived to hear ovations for music that was once thought to be anything but listener-friendly, died Nov. 5 at his home in New York City. He was 103.

A new storm was expected to hit the New York-New Jersey region that's still shivering and cleaning up after last week's Superstorm Sandy, bringing the threat of 55 mph gusts and more beach erosion, flooding and rain by Wednesday.SNIPThe storm is currently projected to eventually pass within 50 to 100 miles of the wounded New Jersey coastline on Wednesday. The storm is expected to bring winds of up to 55 mph, coastal flooding, up to 2 inches of rain along the shore, and several inches of snow to Pennsylvania and New York. One of the biggest fears was that the...

With Election Day turmoil expected because of the ongoing problems caused by Superstorm Sandy, Gov. Cuomo has signed an executive order allowing displaced voters to cast ballots at any polling site. A person would go to a polling place, sign an affidavit and fill out a ballot anonymously, Cuomo said. The vote will count for the presidential race or the U.S. Senate race. But a person’s vote won’t count if they are voting at a site that is not their home state Senate or Assembly district. “It’s fair,” he said. “You can’t vote for a race that you’re not eligible...

Today was National Dance for Obama Day, in which flash mobs were organized as part of a get out the vote effort in numerous cities. The weekend before Election Day, we’re turning up the heat and encouraging people to get out and vote with flash mobs across the country. In Manhattan, the flash mob took place at Herald Square, 34th Street and 6th Avenue in the heart of Midtown far from the chaos elsewhere in the city. Nonetheless, only about 12 dancers showed up in this GOTV effort.

As the contentious and divisive 2012 presidential campaign draws to a close, Cornell students and professors say that this year’s election has not generated nearly the same level of excitement on campus as the one in 2008. During the 2008 campaign, Cornell’s campus was “abuzz,” said Prof. Theodore Lowi, government. “There was a lot of talk, a lot of chatter, among both faculty and students, on the issues,” he said. But this year, Lowi said, he has seen far less enthusiasm about the upcoming presidential election. “Walking around campus, I’ve seen no excitement, nothing energizing. I see it as a...

What a run-around! The city left more than a dozen generators desperately needed by cold and hungry New Yorkers who lost their homes to Hurricane Sandy still stranded in Central Park yesterday. And that’s not all — stashed near the finish line of the canceled marathon were 20 heaters, tens of thousands of Mylar “space” blankets, jackets, 106 crates of apples and peanuts, at least 14 pallets of bottled water and 22 five-gallon jugs of water. This while people who lost their homes in the Rockaways, Coney Island and Staten Island were freezing and going hungry.

o Residents claim they are the 'forgotten victims' of Sandy o Also say that lack of power and law enforcement means more looting and violent crime o Those in stricken areas stockpiling weapons like kitchen knives, machetes, and bats to protect themselves o Coney Island residents say they are forced to 'scavenge for food like animals' o Power unlikely to be returned to Brooklyn, Queen's and Staten Island until sometime next week Almost one week after superstorm Sandy struck the East Coast with its ferocious force, power was still out to some 2.5 million customers due to damages, down from...

Shivering victims of Superstorm Sandy went to church Sunday to pray for deliverance as cold weather settling in across the New York metropolitan region -- and another powerful storm forecast for the middle of the week -- added to their misfortunes and deepened the gloom. With overnight temperatures sinking into the 30s and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses still without electricity, New York City officials handed out blankets and urged people to go to temporary warming shelters set up during the day at senior citizen centers. At the same time, government leaders began to grapple with a daunting,...

Sweet dreams: Jackie came up with the idea which has become so popular she has had to hire a second professional Spooning peacefully in a double bed, this pair could be any normal couple on a Sunday morning. But revisit the scene an hour later and Jackie Samuel will be curled up in the arms of another man. The 29-year-old is a professional cuddler. She turned to snuggling with strangers to help pay for her studies and provide for her young son. She can make $260 a day and cuddles with up to 30 men a week - including pensioners...

The damage done. (MTA/Flickr) The Broad Channel A-train crossing is at right. (Bing Maps) The Rockaways have been one of the hardest hit areas of the city following Superstorm Sandy, with lives lost, houses destroyed, crime on the streets. It has also been a remarkably resilient place, with diehard New Yorkers beginning the daunting work of rebuilding. It will be a long time before the Rockaways returns to normal, though, and it turns out that goes for subway service to the area, too.At a press briefing Thursday night, MTA chief Joe Lhota said it would be some time before A-train...

Storm-ravaged and weary Rockaways residents cornered Mayor Bloomberg yesterday to angrily demand more aid for their devastated neighborhood. “When are we gonna get some help?” blasted one desperate woman, who had to be held back by the mayor’s security detail as Bloomberg stood by with a deer-in-the-headlights look. “When are we gonna get some bleeping help?” she demanded. “There’s old ladies in my building that don’t got nothing,” lashed out a man on video caught by a NY1 reporting crew. Bloomberg’s trip to the Rockaways wasn’t announced and wouldn’t have been caught on cameras if the news crew hadn’t happened...

<p>Storm-ravaged and weary Rockaways residents cornered Mayor Bloomberg yesterday to angrily demand more aid for their devastated neighborhood.</p>
<p>“When are we gonna get some help?” blasted one desperate woman, who had to be held back by the mayor’s security detail as Bloomberg stood by with a deer-in-the-headlights look.</p>

The disgusting, lynch mob mentality that has arisen from the Trayvon Martin shooting case places us several notches towards race riots this summer. To the balanced observer, Zimmerman really does appear to have likely shot Martin in self defense. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and Barack Hussein Obama started babbling before all the facts were in. These collectivist droids seldom retreat from any lie ... they simply magnify it further. If George Zimmerman is acquitted the fuse will light. Remember Rodney King? If you live in an urban environment, don't be stupid. Pay attention! -------------------------cut-------------------------- EXTRA - 10/31/12 watch the...

America’s heart, soul, brains and muscle — the middle- and working-class people who make this nation great — have been beset for too long by sapping economic decline. So, too, New York breadwinners and families. ~snip~ Revival of the U.S. as a land of opportunity and upward mobility is the central challenge facing the next President. The question for Americans: Who is more likely to accomplish the mission — Barack Obama or Mitt Romney? Four years ago, the Daily News endorsed Obama, seeing a historic figure whose intelligence, political skills and empathy with common folk positioned him to build on...

CITY OF NEWBURGH — A Newburgh cop and three others were stabbed early Saturday at a party honoring a recent homicide victim. City police said the officer was stabbed multiple times around 2:35 a.m. at a Dry Dock nightclub event honoring Justin “J-Doc” Doctor, 23, who was killed Oct. 14. The officer was trying to arrest somebody involved in a fight. The cop received a stab wound to the neck, and was treated at St. Luke’s Hospital. The officer is now in stable condition at a trauma center, police said. Some 200 friends and relatives came out to 90 Broadway...

It would be dark soon at the Coney Island Houses, the fourth night without power, elevators and water. Another night of trips up and down pitch-black staircases, lighted by shaky flashlights and candles. Another night of retreating from the dark.

Mr. Cooper and a few friends stood talking on his house's porch. It was about 7:45 p.m. and they were the only people around. The ocean breeze was getting colder and stronger. He held his flashlight and looked out onto the street, which was still covered with sand. “There's no lights, there's no cameras, there's no alarms, there's no nothing. It's kind of scary, you know?” he said. His neighbor, Talentin Gutierez showed a reporter a borrowed generator, worth about $2,000. His was robbed the other day. Tonight, he will sleep in his car – wrecked from water damage –...

LIsten to KFI AM 640 The Lisa Ann Walker Show. She has family on Staten Island. KFI will offer the pdcast after the show airs. She reports lots of bodeis still being found. The news is not being reported becuase of the election and the possibiklty of another storm.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, it seems to be pretty clear that residents of New York City and the surrounding areas could use all the help they can get. However, a Davisburg man said some people in the area are more interested in “protecting their turf” than in distributing those supplies to the masses. Mike James, an independent trucker, said he and three other truckers were told to haul a load of transformers to the city to replace equipment anticipated to be lost in the storm. James, two men from Holly and a Flint man arrived in the city...

As lights have begun flickering on in Lower Manhattan, residents of the Rockaways in Queens continued struggling without power, heat or food for a sixth day as their neighborhood slowly descended into chaos. With little police presence on the storm-ravaged streets, many residents of the peninsula have been forced to take their protection into their own hands, arming themselves with guns, baseball bats and even bows and arrows to ward off thugs seeking to loot their homes. It has been reported that crooks have been disguising themselves as Long Island Power Authority workers and coming by homes on the peninsula...